Digimon Story: Time Stranger — Our Review
TamerDex's honest take after time with the game. Short version: the monster-raising is the best this series has ever done — you just have to sit through a slow, talky story and some rough edges to get to it.
What it nails
The reason to play is the raising. Digivolution routes, the Personality system that steers how each Digimon's stats grow, DNA fusions that fold two partners into something stronger — it all clicks together into the deepest monster-lab the series has built. And it's generous with it: with 475 Digimon in the Digidex, there's always one more line you want to chase. You'll finish a fight, notice a partner is one level off its next form, and suddenly it's an hour later.
The combat rewards you for engaging with all of that. Attribute matchups (Vaccine beats Virus, Virus beats Data, Data beats Vaccine), agent skills, and knowing which DNA Digivolution to slot in turn team-building into the real puzzle. When you've planned a run and it pays off, it's very satisfying.
Where it drags
The story takes its time — a lot of time. The opening stretch is a slow burn, and the game almost never stops talking; The Operator is in your ear through most of it, narrating what you can already see. Between story beats you're running dungeons that start to blur together, and the plot takes far too long to find any urgency.
The presentation shows its budget, too. Environments are plain, there's noticeable pop-in and shaky animation, and performance doesn't feel like it's earning the simple visuals. None of it is a dealbreaker, but it's a game that looks a generation behind what it costs. And once you realise auto-battle clears routine encounters faster than playing them out, a lot of the fights stop mattering.
Who it's for
If you loved Cyber Sleuth, or you just want the richest Digimon-raising sim there is, you'll forgive the pacing and settle happily into the systems. If you're shopping on story, cast and polish, go in knowing the first fifteen-odd hours ask for patience. Critics landed around 79 on Metacritic and OpenCritic, with individual scores swinging from 6/10 to near-perfect — which feels right for a game people either pour sixty hours into or drop in the first ten.
Our take: worth it for the Digimon, patience required for everything around them. Pick a Vaccine starter to smooth out the early hours, lean into the raising systems early, and don't feel bad about auto-battling the filler.
This is TamerDex's own opinion, not a scored outlet review. Reception figures via Metacritic and OpenCritic.